The Cyprus Community of NSW’s 2026 Fundraising Ball will bring Sydney’s Greek community together for a night of food, music and dancing, while raising funds for children and families affected by brain cancer.
Organised with the community’s Youth Committee, the ball will be held at The Grand Roxy in Brighton-Le-Sands on Friday, 6 November, from 6.30pm. All proceeds will go to the Little Legs Foundation, which supports children with brain cancer and their families.
Tickets cost $120 and include a four-course dinner and a beverage package of beer, wine and soft drinks. Live entertainment will continue throughout the evening, with guests invited to take to the dance floor for Greek music and dancing. The event is strictly for guests aged 18 and over. Tickets are available through Humanitix.
For Youth Committee members Antigone Sarlas, Yianna Mavrommatis and Maree Mournehis-Skouros, the ball is also an opportunity to introduce the committee and create new ways for young Cypriot Australians to connect with their culture and community.
Antigone, the committee’s treasurer, said her own connection to Cyprus grew after taking part in the NEPOMAK Cyprus Culture Tour, which brings young Cypriots from around the world together to explore the island.
“Returning from that trip, I had formed lasting friendships and connections, gained a much deeper appreciation for our heritage and culture, and developed a genuine passion that I wanted to channel into something closer to home,” she said.
Growing up in Sydney, Antigone said she had not always felt a strong connection to her Cypriot heritage, with the Greek Australian community more prominent in her life.
“I’d never really connected deeply with my Cypriot heritage — the Greek diaspora is naturally much larger and more prominent here in Sydney, so my Cypriot identity never quite had the same presence in my life,” she said.
The trip helped her learn more about Cyprus’ history and the Cyprus issue. It also gave her a new appreciation for parts of her family life she had previously thought of simply as Greek, including foods her yiayia cooked and words used at home. She said she had also developed a love of Cypriot music, even before the rise of a Cypriot Eurovision artist Antigone.
For Antigone, the island’s natural beauty sits alongside a history that must not be forgotten. She described standing at the Green Line as a confronting experience that brought the reality of displacement into focus.
“Standing at the Green Line is a really confronting experience — it puts into perspective the reality of an illegal invasion that displaced an entire group of people from their homes, land they still haven’t returned to,” she said.
After returning from Cyprus, Antigone was invited to join the Youth Committee and saw it as a way to bring her renewed interest in her heritage closer to home. She is also involved with the NEPOMAK Australia and New Zealand committee.
The NSW committee is still in its early stages, she said, with a focus on growing membership, connecting Cypriots across greater Sydney and creating opportunities to explore the community’s culture and heritage.
Antigone hopes the group will organise Cypriot dancing and cooking classes, cultural forums and community gatherings. The upcoming ball will be its first major event and an introduction to the wider community.
“Sometimes all it takes is one experience to ignite a passion for your Cypriot roots that you didn’t know was there,” she said.
Yianna, who helps wherever she can and is currently assisting with the ball, first became involved through a family friend who is the community’s vice-president. She said she had always felt connected to Cyprus while growing up in a Cypriot family in Australia, and had been made to feel welcome at community events.
“In our home, there is always room at the table for one more guest,” she said.
Yianna hopes the Youth Committee can offer that same sense of welcome to other young Cypriots, helping them feel connected and proud of their heritage. She sees that heritage in the ties between family, faith, traditions and the island, as well as in the belonging that comes from sharing food, music and conversation.
Through the committee, she would like to see cultural nights and gatherings centred on dance, food and language, where young people can learn from older generations and feel that their heritage and faith belong to them.
Events Coordinator Maree joined the committee about a year ago, inspired by her passion for keeping Greek-Cypriot culture alive and her enjoyment of community work. She is involved with several cultural committees and has represented the High Commissioner at commemorative services, laying wreaths and delivering speeches. She also recently helped organise the Food and Wine Festival.
Maree wants the committee’s program to give young people different ways to meet, build friendships and explore their heritage. Alongside taverna and bouzouki nights, she hopes to organise religious talks around Easter, cooking classes, lectures, career and networking opportunities for university students, as well as social activities such as go-karting and futsal.
“Through my work with the committee, I hope to help young Cypriots feel connected not only to our culture and heritage, but also to one another,” she said.
“I want to help build a strong and welcoming community where young people can form friendships, network, support each other and, most importantly, feel proud of where they come from.”
For Maree, Cypriot heritage encompasses faith, music, dance, food, family, history and traditions, along with values such as respect, generosity and helping those in need. It also includes dancing zeibekiko at family celebrations.
“And, of course, being Cypriot means dancing zeibekiko at all of our cousins’ weddings!” she said.
Looking ahead, she hopes to help create an events calendar for 2027 that will bring young Cypriots together, support Greek and Cypriot businesses, assist people in need and strengthen ties between the Greek and Cypriot communities.
For all three volunteers, keeping the culture alive means creating a community young people want to take part in. The fundraising ball is one step towards that goal, while supporting children and families facing brain cancer.
The Cyprus Community of NSW Fundraising Ball will be held at The Grand Roxy Brighton-Le-Sands, 128 The Grand Parade, on Friday, November 6 from 6.30 pm. The event is strictly for guests aged 18 and over.
Tickets are available for $120 per person through Humanitix.
